Confused on adding downloads?

[Jase35]

Ok,i am new here,in the hope i may get some help to one of my probs i am having with Flight 2004.

I am sick of the standard aircraft livery,and wanted some different.

So i download and then move into the Aircraft folder of FS,but nothing.

Is so confusing,and really making me angry,what am i doing wrong????????

Thx

[Brett_Henderson]

Item #5  In the FS2004 FAQ..  It's the lone, sticky thread in the FS2004 forums,,  Back up un page and you can't miss it.. right on the top..

[Jase35]

Been there,and tried this already.

For a start i havent got the same screens(windows explorer),and i know about adding aircraft to aircraft folder,but when i hav gone into FS2004,there is never any aircraft there that i thought i had added.

I actually read somewhere,that adding these downloads,was such a headache in actually getting them to work,and was it really worth it.

Well i can add that yes,at the moment it really is a headache,but i really wanna know how to do this as i enjoy FS 2004 so much,i think perceverence will pay off.................1 day,just at moment,i am sorry for sounding thick,but it really has me baffled.

Perhaps if and when i do manage to do this,i will think what a idiot i was.

Hope someone can really explain,cos that in FAQ's,is not working for me.

Thx

[Groundbound1]

First, Welcome to SimV!
I'm not exactly sure why you're having a problem yet, but let's see if we can figure it out! Can you give us a little more background. What O/S are you using? Have you been able to add any downloaded a/c before?

[Hagar]

Hi Jase. This can be a bit confusing to start with but it gets easier with practice.

For a start i havent got the same screens(windows explorer),

The first thing to do is to fix this. Before attempting to install any more aircraft please read my 'Windows Basics' & 'Working with Windows' articles from the link to Grumpy's Lair in my sig. Set your Windows Explorer folder options like mine.

When you've done that give me an example of an aircraft you wish to install. I need the file name & the exact page number it's posted on. Then I'll do my best to walk you through it.

PS. I'm assuming you're using Windows XP. If this is Vista I might not be able to help.

[Jase35]

Thx Hagar.

Right,have got to grips with the Explorer,on the left hand side of screen.

Tried to follow again,how to put into Aircraft file,and nothing.

Basically to get the grips of things,i just want a B-737 just different livery to start with,thanks.

OP/S is Win XP

Look forward toy your help,thanks.

[Hagar]

Thx Hagar.

Right,have got to grips with the Explorer,on the left hand side of screen.

Right. Now we're getting somewhere.  

Tried to follow again,how to put into Aircraft file,and nothing.

Basically to get the grips of things,i just want a B-737 just different livery to start with,thanks.

OP/S is Win XP

Look forward toy your help,thanks.

I think you mean a repaint of the default 737-400. Choose one & tell me exactly where to download the file. Then maybe we can install it.

[ThomasKaira]

OK, I will tell you up right here right now as you are having trouble, but use the sticky for future reference.

I understand you know how to get to the aircraft section of the FS9 main folder, so we will start there. It seems we are all missing the aircraft.cfg modification part of installing repaints... not a mention of it in this thread. Hmm...

Installing a repaint ALSO requires a modification of the aircraft.cfg file (not the .air file, mind you). Open the aircraft.cfg file, copy-paste this text, modifying it based on the name of the folder your new textures are in (Get rid of the text in parenthesis, by the way):

[fltsim.0,1,2, etc.] Check to see how many textures your plane already has, this number will be the next one after the last one.
title=XXX (This doesn't really matter much, but change it so you know which specific aircraft this block of code is referring to)
sim=747-400-RR-RB-211-524HT (This MUST match the sim code of the currently working aircraft, else the textures won't be detected)
model=RR (Only needed if your plane has several different model folders, this will make the program use that model to map the textures to)
panel= (If you want a different panel in your aircraft, remove the panel folder and either re-map here, or in the panel.cfg file)
sound= (Use this to re-map the sounds this plane will use, can also be done in the sound.cfg file)
texture=SAF (This one is ESSENTIAL to texture modification, insert the text on the RIGHT side of the dot [ex: texture.(FedEx) (insert this one)] in this field so the plane will read the textures in that specific folder.)
checklists= (Not essential)
atc_airline=Springbok (this changes the airline that ATC will refer to you as, not essential)
atc_flight_number=201 (This simply changes the default flight number ATC registers you as, not really important)
ui_manufacturer=Boeing (This re-categorizes the plane in the select aircraft menu, I change this one a lot to keep all my Boeing aircraft under "Boeing")
ui_type=747-400 (This is what the actual name of the plane will be in aircraft select)
ui_variation=South African Airways (This MUST be changed in order to insert a repaint into a plane, you will find this in the variation dropdown in aircraft select)
visual_damage=1 (Not essential)
atc_heavy=1 (Tells ATC whether or not your plane is a "heavy" not essential)
atc_id=ZS-SAY1 (ATC Tailnumber reference)
description= Say what you want to say about the plane here.

Hope this helps. By the way, whenever you download a repaint, most come with the above coding already prepared. This should help you with those that don't. If the repaint comes with an aircraft.cfg modification, all you really need to do is insert it into the plane's aircraft.cfg, modify the fltsim.XXX, and sometimes the sim=, and then you are ready to go.

[Jase35]

Yes Hanger that is just what i want to learn how to do,just a simple repaint please.

Just read that above and i am really sorry,but some of you guys have probably been doing this stuff for so long now you could do with your eyes shut.

So sorry,but i really cannot follow,why.

Anyway Hanger,just any livery company 737,just try and help however you can learn me what i am doing wrong.

Thank you very much.

[Hagar]

Yes Hanger that is just what i want to learn how to do,just a simple repaint please.

Anyway Hanger,just any livery company 737,just try and help however you can learn me what i am doing wrong.

It would save me a lot of time & be much easier for you if you choose the file you wish to install. There are several different 3rd party Boeing 737's out there which confuses the issue as you must have the correct textures for the one they were intended for or they won't work. There are as many ways of configuring downloads as there are of installing them. There is no correct method for doing this & everyone has their own favourite methods. However, to save any more messing around I've found a repaint for the FS2004 default B737-400 & will show you how I would do it.

First you need to download the Lufthansa textures, 4th file down on this page. http://www.simviation.com/fs2004jets183.htm
The file name is 737Lufthansa.zip

I don't know which method you use for extracting zipfiles but I'm assuming you know how to do it. Extract 737Lufthansa.zip to a Temp folder anywhere on your hard drive. In the extracted folder you should find a folder named Texture.lufthansa along with 2 text files & a JPG image. 'Read Me Lufthansa.txt' is the author's installation instructions. These are a tad complicated so we'll use my method but we will need to refer to it later.

To install the new textures find the folder named b737_400 in your FS2004\Aircraft folder & double-click on the folder to open it. Paste the folder named Texture.lufthansa into it. I use the right mouse click Cut & Paste options for moving files/folders.

Now you need to edit Aircraft.cfg to recognise the new variation. (I suggest taking a backup copy of any files before attempting to edit them in case anything goes wrong.) Find the file named Aircraft.cfg in the b737_400 folder & open it in Notepad. You will see the 5 existing variations of the 737 listed under different headers starting with [fltsim.0]
Scroll down to the end of the last one [fltsim.4] & make a space between it & the [General] header. Now go back to your downloaded file & open the file named 'Read Me Lufthansa.txt' in Notepad. If you scroll down you will see this sample CFG entry;

[fltsim.5]
title=Boeing 737-400 Paint5
sim=Boeing737-400
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=lufthansa
kb_checklists=Boeing737-400_check
kb_reference=Boeing737-400_ref
atc_id=D-ABEE
atc_airline=Lufthansa
atc_flight_number=1123
ui_manufacturer=Boeing
ui_type="737-400"
ui_variation="Lufthansa"
description="One should hardly be surprised that the world's most prolific manufacturer of commercial aircraft is also the producer of the world's most popular jetliner. The 737 became the best-selling commercial jetliner worldwide when orders for it hit 1,831 in June 1987 (surpassing Boeing's own 727 as the previous champ). However, it wasn't always that way\s in the first few years of production, there were so few orders that Boeing considered canceling the program. They didn't, and the airplane has more than proven itself in over three decades of service."

Highlight all the above text & copy it. (Right-click/Copy) Then paste it into the b737_400 Aircraft.cfg in the space you created above the [General] header. (Right-click/Paste.)

Note that in this case the header is already numbered [fltsim.5]
This number must follow on in sequence from the last existing entry or it won't work. If you add another variation the next entry will be [fltsim.6]
Finally exit Notepad saving changes when prompted. The new variation should be listed on the FS2004 aircraft selection menu under Boeing|737-400 as Lufthansa. Please tell me that worked for you.

[Jase35]

Will try this later,i seem to be able to understand this a little easier anyway.

As soon as back home i will give this a go.

Thanks for your time so far,i ado appreciate this from you.

Jase

[Jase35]

Just arrived back home,and Yes it has worked.



Cannot believe that you have gone to trouble to help,and is now much more clear how to do that.

Thanks again Hangar.

By the way,is there a limit on how many different aircraft you can add at all,cause i have added 2 more 737-400,but cannot any more at moment,just wondering.

Jase

[Hagar]

Fantastic. It should get easier from now on. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I'm always pleased to help when I can. If you have problems post here again.

I don't know of any limit to the number of variations (repaints) you can install to an existing aircraft.

[Hagar]

Jase, there is no limit. Check those Aircraft.cfg entries carefully. First of all make sure you numbered the [fltsim.x] headers correctly. They must run in sequence & if one is incorrect the ones following it will not be recognised.

My Add a Repaint article was written for FS2002 but explains the basic principle of how this works.

PS. Also make sure the new textures are for the default 737 & not a different 3rd party model.

[Jase35]

Scrub that last message,i just done it,at last.

Idiot me decided to not extract folder contents,instead i was just opening instead of extracting all the folder.

Anyway done it now........and have all re-paints i want.

Now i need to have a look how hard is to download and install NEW aircraft.

Thx m8.